When someone is considering seeking help for the first time, one of the first questions that comes up is: who do I go to? A psychologist, a psychiatrist, a therapist? The three terms circulate in everyday conversation almost as if they were interchangeable, and yet they aren't. Not because one is better than another, but because they refer to different training, roles, and functions.
What I'm writing here isn't an academic glossary. It's practical orientation so you can make an informed decision about what kind of support makes the most sense for what you're going through.
The three roles and what each one does
The psychiatrist is a medical doctor. They studied medicine and then specialized in mental health. That means they have the training and legal authorization to prescribe medication — something none of the other professionals on this list can do in Mexico. Their work centers on clinical diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of conditions like major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe anxiety disorders, among others. When symptoms may require medication — incapacitating insomnia, manic episodes, psychosis, a depression that prevents basic functioning — psychiatry is often the first step, and the most important one.
The psychologist holds a degree in psychology. In Mexico, that base training doesn't include authorization to prescribe medication, but it can include psychological assessment, diagnosis, and, depending on their postgraduate training, psychotherapy as well. There's a nuance worth naming here: not every psychologist practices psychotherapy, and not everyone who does has the same training or the same approach. A psychology degree is the starting point, not the destination.
The psychotherapist is whoever practices psychotherapy. In Mexico City this practice is regulated by the Mental Health Law, which reserves psychotherapy for professionals with the training and authorization the law requires; it's usually practiced by psychologists and psychiatrists with specialized training in a particular therapeutic model. My case is different: I work as a body-centered therapist. My training isn't in clinical diagnosis or pharmacology, but in humanistic, somatic, and existential approaches, and my work is the therapeutic process — exploration, understanding patterns, working with the nervous system and emotions.
When to seek out each one
The most useful guidance I can give you is this: if what you're going through might require medication, start with psychiatry. Not because medication is always the answer, but because it's the only professional who can assess that dimension with rigor. Often, from there, the most effective work happens in parallel: a psychiatrist for pharmacological stabilization, a psychotherapist for the deeper work.
If what you're looking for is to explore what's happening to you, understand where certain patterns come from, work with difficult emotions, heal relationships, or move through a moment of life crisis without there being a clinical condition that requires medication, psychotherapy is the path. The same applies if you already have psychiatric care in place and want to complement it with deeper therapeutic work.
For a clearer sense of what you can expect from the therapeutic process once you begin, you can read what to expect from therapy or when it's a good time to start.
An honest note about my own practice
My work isn't clinical diagnosis. I don't assess to determine whether someone meets criteria for a disorder, and I don't have pharmacological training. What I offer is body-centered therapeutic accompaniment: a sustained process where we explore what you're living through, how you're carrying it in your body, what patterns show up, and what new possibilities can open. I work by integrating tools rooted in body-based therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Polyvagal Theory.
If at any point during our process I think a psychiatric evaluation or complementary pharmacological support could be useful, I say so directly. And I can help you find the right person. That's also part of the work — knowing when to refer isn't a limitation, it's therapeutic judgment.
The question of who to turn to doesn't always have a single answer. Sometimes it's one person, sometimes it's more than one working together. What matters is that the help you find responds to what you actually need.
If you want to know more about what the initial process with me looks like, you can read about the first session.